Thank you to Harper Collins for the exclusive invite to read Mirrorland in exchange for an honest review.

This debut by Johnstone is beautifully crafted and detailed. It is reminiscent of THE ROANOKE GIRLS by Amy Engel, and THE LIGHT OF THE FIREFLIES by Paul Pen. I would say that this is not a book for people who don't like to stay in the dark, or don't like to keeping all the metaphorical juggling balls in the air. Johnstone does a good job of keeping you on your toes, as Cat is a good example of an unreliable narrator. Johnstone-through-Cat sabotages your every guess which makes for a delightful thriller and invigorating read.

The beginning can be really disorientating and confusing, especially if you aren't a fan of magic realism. Johnstone moves between reality and the dreamworld of Mirrorland within sentences and it is up to you as the reader to try and figure out what's happening now, what happened in the past, and whether this is all in Cat's head or out in the open. Personally, I really enjoyed this, but I can see how this could irritate some readers who might want to have these shifts more explicitly gestured towards.

The pacing of the whole story was brilliant for a thriller. While Cat might be an unreliable narrator, I felt like we were getting the right bits of information at the right time. When I read thrillers/mysteries, I tend to keep track of all the threads in a notebook so I can double check everything has been answered, and Johnstone does indeed answer everything by the end. There are definitely several twists and turns that took me by surprise and I personally didn't find it predictable. Even if you have your doubts and you find everyone suspicious, there is no clear answer really.

The novel itself deals with a lot of trauma, and Cat's grief is palpable. However, the only thing that stopped me from giving this 5*s is the ending which (I won't spoil) felt a little bit cliché. Despite this, I did like the final touches and appreciate why Johnstone ended the story in this way, so this is a personal reading preference.

Overall, the prose was sharp, lucid, and exciting. While the movement between Mirrorland and reality, flashback and present day, were disorientating, I found it added a lot to the experience and I loved exploring Cat's world!

This book draws you in to the fantasy world of the twins right away- Mirrorland- full of pirates and cowboys, all kinds of games and fun- although all is definitely not as it seems.
The story dips between times as Cat, now grown returns to her childhood home, occupied by her sister and brother in law and apparently unchanged in decades, when her twin sister El disappears. Seemingly trapped between reality and her memories Cat discovers more and more about her childhood that had been buried deep within.
This is definitely a story that would lend itself well to screen adaptation - Mirrorland is already so vivid that it would be easy to make it real!

Full of twists and turns, misdirection and mystery this is a really compulsive read from start to finish.

An intriguing book with a great twist at the end. However, I really struggled to get into the book and had to persevere for the first 60% of the book before it became much clearer.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased view of the book.

Cat lives in California. She returns home to Edinburgh after an absence of twelve years when her identical sister El is reported missing. El and her husband have been living in Cat and El’s childhood home.
As she waits for news, the barely changed house awakens vivid memories of their childhood.
Mirrorland is a stylishly written thriller,where the lines between fantasy and reality are blurred. The complexity covers both plot and characters, entangling the reader just the way El and Cat were as children. The narration too, is unreliable ,and clever as this is, the detailed descriptions of the make believe life at times felt bewildering and over long.
The characters, unlikeable as they were, were well drawn, and I loved the emotions flitting over faces, decisions on whether the truth or fiction would be spoken. The reveal was not the strongest part but the climax leading to it was well done.
Mirrorland is a rock solid debut thriller.
With thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK.

From the start I was concerned about this book, mainly because I could not see the plans of the house clearly on my kindle. Ah well, what could it matter? To be honest it didn’t really matter but it did make it confusing as it appears to be the layout of a house – but without the usual designation of bedroom, kitchen, lounge etc. So off on the wrong foot I set into a strange land of pirates, clowns, distant islands, jungle. Mix in a variety of disparate characters, situations, siblings – twins no less, mice (yes, mice or to be exact Mouse) and you have one very confused reader.

Not really my bag, all a bit Angela Carter for me.

Except it is so brilliantly written, so beautiful in a dark, creepy psychological way that there is much more to it than my words can convey. So it does seem amazing that this is a debut novel and credit must be given to Ms Johnstone. My hesitation is purely mine own – it was hard work wading through it and would leave it there but for one thing. The ending, well, I never would have expected that and I was left feeling as though I had pulled a rabbit from a hat… Pure magic? Yes, indeed – but I’m just not into magic. If you are though – you are in for a real treat.

With apologies for the mixed message but thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

El has disappeared, but twin sister Cat refuses to believe she's dead. After all, she's leaving Cat a treasure hunt to follow...

This was a truly sensational read, switching seamlessly between past and present, certain and uncertain, real and make-believe. It keeps you on your toes and makes you work - can you believe the story you're being told? Which aspects are real, and which are imagined? Do you ever have all the facts? And who should you trust?

The twists unfurl one after another, like a deck of cards, and there's always something else that you've not uncovered, or another layer you've yet to reach. The writing is wonderful too - beautiful, but commercial and readable enough to keep you gripped - and the storytelling gets more and more ambitious. It's hard to talk too much about Mirrorland, the twins' imaginary world, without revealing something you may want to work out for yourself, so all I will say is that this is a brilliantly-plotted, inventive and moving story. One of my top reads this year.

4-5 stars

36 Westeryk Road, Edinburgh contains Mirrorland, the escapist world of mirror twins Ellice (El) and Catriona (Cat) Morgan. Now in their thirties El leads Cat on a treasure hunt to unlock their shocking reality and discover truths.

It took me a while to get into this but its draws you into the original and creative plot and ultimately it becomes very difficult to put down. It is a very atmospheric tale, super creepy in places and the author fuses the childhood fantasy Mirrorland brilliantly into the nightmare of the present day. At times it feels so claustrophobic that it’s hard to breathe and as the truth emerges it’s shock after shock and some of it is brutal. The final twist is excellent and ends the book positively. It’s a novel about the root causes of their childhood fantasies and its impact on adulthood, family sacrifice, deception and extremely clever subterfuge and becoming free from the iron shackles of the past. It’s grippingly tense and harsh in places but overall is a corker of a psychological thriller. Take a deep breath and dive in.

With thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins, Harper Fiction for the much appreciated arc for an honest review.

This thriller is so addictive as soon as I finished I wanted the next or to start again. What happens when you hear that your twin has gone missing, I'd have a shock as I don't have a twin but Cat does or is that did.
So Cat comes home to Edinburgh where the story is set from America where she fleed after a pain filled episode or is that another part of her pain filled life. There are some twists and a few major twists that as you'd expect change the story completely or it's direction.
There are a few strange characters to add some flavour or is that texture who cares they bring something else but the 3 main folk are Cat her missing twin El & Ross. Well also there's Mum and Grandpa they are quite major. One question is who are Mouse, Anna, Marie and Roy what is their true part in the story there only one way to find out? The thriller had 2 parts the first life set in Mirrorland the childhood land of imagination very captivating and the second part is based on the time Cat returns and the missing El. This is a thriller that I hope you enjoy and can lose yourself in as I did, you may guess bits of it but not the majority or rather I didn't but so i recommend it yes completely.

Mirrorland was an excellent psychological drama, imaginative and cleverly twisted it is an absolute page turner of a story.

Mirror twins, an imaginative world of escape, sets the scene for when one of those twins goes missing...is she dead? Is she hiding? What exactly happened all those years ago. Perhaps Mirrorland holds the answers...

Tense, twisted and with some highly engaging characters, Mirrorland takes you on a brilliantly atmospheric journey towards the truth with a beautifully written narrative that holds you enthralled from first page to last.

Highly recommended.

It took a long time to get in to this book but it was worth it. This was really something different and I throughly enjoyed it. I will certainly look out for other books by this author.I apologise if this seems a little brief but I prefer to give my opinion rather than a synopsis of the story.
Thank you Netgalley, Carole Johnstone and Harper Collins UK for giving me the opportunity to give my unbiased opinion.

I found this book a slow burn, but once i got into it , it picked up pace. I struggled with the flashbacks and the flitting back and forth but i enjoyed the second half of the book and the ending was great.
Thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for my arc in retune for a review.
I would recommend.

Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone is a book that will stay with me. Not at all what I expected this novel had me gripped from the start. With twists and turns it read almost like the fairytales that the twins lived in as children. If you want to see if it all ended happily ever after you’ll have to read it!

This is an intriguing book about twins and their fantasy childhood world of mirrorland. Memories submerges with reality which has to be addressed when twin Ellice goes missing. Lots of twists and turns in this gripping and unique thriller which made me have to read on to find out what was happening next. An impulsive read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

A fantastic novel, full of twists and turns that kept me guessing till the very end. I won't spoil it for anyone but this is WELL WORTH a read for fans of psychological/crime thrillers.

El and Cat are really well written and their childhood is described in such vivid detail that I felt I was watching the events rather than simply reading them. On that note, this plot would make an excellent TV series!
Another reviewer had mentioned the genre 'magical realism' to categorize this novel and I would have to agree.

The 'magical' elements are as realistic as they are dark. At times I found this confusing as I couldn't distinguish reality from make-believe. However, this made the events of the final chapters even more engrossing - I think the author WANTS her readers to feel just as confused as Cat is.

All in all, a fabulous read! My thanks go to Netgalley and Borough Press/HarperCollins for the e-ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

This is my first book by this author and will not be my last!

This is a good books the story is about identical twins El and Cat, Who like to escape to a place called Mirror world which is make believe. this story has a few twists and turns I didn't see coming. it is kinda creepy in places, but it will suck you in. The writing is great loved the plot. So different from anything I have read before.

I didn't know what to make of this book at first. Initially I struggled with the flashbacks as they were quite confusing and it was hard to decipher which was imagination and which was reality.
I felt the book didn't flow in the beginning and at one point I even considered giving up but I continued and I'm glad I did as things became clearer as the book progressed and the story developed and pulled the reader in.
The author takes the reader on a journey sometimes looking back at the past and sometimes trying to deal with the present. There is mystery and suspicion, love and betrayal. Once it got going it was a good read.

A right hodge podge of plot, characters, settings, abuse, murder, sibling rivalry, drunk fantasy - reading it was exhausting work. It felt like one of those Covid dreams that people were having at the beginning of lockdown; everything that is niggling you thrown in with too may bottles of wine, night sweats and a chinese takeaway. Like a knotted ball of wool I wanted to unpick some of it, smooth it out and make one good jumper, then use the rest for something else - there was too much happening on each page. Also, a bit like Covid, it keeps going on and on - I was losing my grip on timescale, characters and plot and had to work to get to the end.

Batten down the hatches and be prepared for a stormy journey into an amazing world of imagination. Woven into this world you’ll encounter love, jealousy, hate and maybe even murder.
It was hard sometimes to establish where imagination ended and reality began but that only added to the intrigue.
The ending was superb and felt like a cliff hanger for something to follow. This book is excellent.

When Cat is called back from America because her twin sister El has gone missing she returns to many memories as when El got married her and her husband Ross bought the house the girls spent the first half of their life in. Then Cat and Ross are being interviewed by Police Scotland as they try and find out what has happened to El and relationships start to get complex until the cards and emails start arriving.
This is a rollercoaster of a book what a great read and you get almost to the last few pages before everything is explained. Loved it.

The world of Mirrorland is so comprehensively detailed that the reader can imagine themselves as the young twins, Cat (Catriona) and El (Ellice) in this fantastically crafted novel, hiding away from the fears of the adult/outside world. Both safely united in their imaginary world.
However, reality must intrude on their imaginary world and the story begins when the twins are found cold, scared and alone late at night at a Scottish harbour in Edinburgh. Repeating only their (first) names and that they are waiting for a pirate ship, there is much confusion about what has happened to Catriona and Ellice.
The story then jumps forward twenty years and Cat is returning to her old childhood home, long since purchased by El and her husband Ross. Unfortunately, her return is not for a pleasant but rather tragic reason – El has gone missing while out at sea on her boat and is now presumed death. Cat refuses to believe that this is the case. Although, not having spoken in over 10 years, Cat recalls how El supposedly attempted suicide previously in order to keep Cat and Ross apart and she refers to the dramatics preformed by El on a regular basics. From here on, we learn of Mirrorland – a magical world as invented by the children and inhabited by them on a daily basis. Along with Ross and several friends who may or may not also be invented. As the novel continues, Cat’s memories become increasingly twisted and tortured, leading the reader to wonder if these memories of the past can be trusted and now if she is actually imagining her encounters in the present day with the locals.
With Cat continuing to insist that El must be alive, there is someone determined to scare her away by sending numerous threatening notes, all while she is receiving messages that tell her El is alive. Could El be sending these or maybe Mouse? But surely Mouse was only a figment of her imagination? When Cat realises that her memories cannot be trusted, she starts to realise that she is in far more danger that she could ever have imagined and that Mirrorland is not the safe haven she thought.
When imagination, fantasy and deeply rooted fear combine, the world of Mirrorland is the result, a haven and hideaway. What a wonderful world has been created by Carole Johnstone is this novel. A novel that is part psychological thriller and part gothic novel, I kept turning and turning the pages – I just could not put it down!